Street-indicator.



W'-"D. SEAL E.

STREET INDICATOR.

APPLICATION rum) FE11.23,1911.

Patented Aug. 22, 1911.

a. inflamed STATES wI LmM; DANIEL SEALE, offitoNrREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA.

PATENT s'rnnnninmcn'ron.

To whmn it may concern:

Be it known that I; lVILLL-nr DANIEL SnnLga citizen of the UnitedStates, now mslding'at Montreah Province ofQuebec,

6; Domin1on of Cana Indicators; and I do hereby declare that" the'j'tion thereof. 1 i v 'llhis invention relates to street indicators na, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Street--following is a full, clear, and exact descripwhichare ada ted to beplaced inthe interior of ar vehic eso that a name indicating a occupantsof the vehicle.

Heretofore dlihculty has been experienced in preventing sagging betweenthe carrylng spools of the ribbon bearing the'street names and also inbringing the street name to its propel-indicating position when a,greater amount ofribbon is wound upon one spool and while elaborate'mechanism, has been devised which overcomes this defect to some'extentvthe" difiiculty is still present when I the indicator is usedwith ,acarmaking a, 2

long mm. the name bearing ribbon being necessarily extended in length toaccommodate the names of the numerous cross- .stlfeets andone of theobjects of my invention is to provide a simple "mechanism "whereby thedesired street namemay readily brought into its proper indicating 85 whereby the indicator when placed at the position irrespective of thelength of the ribbon and also to prevent sagging of the latter betweenthe carrying spools. s

A further object is to provide means frort of the interior of the car,may be operated from the rear vestibule'during thecomplete run 'ofthelatter one adjustment nly being necessary when the car starts on itsreturn run.

A further object is. to simplify the general construction. of indicatorsand toprovide readily removable parts therefor.

QFoffullv comprehension however of my invention reference must be had tothe ac oompan'yin'g drawings formlng a part of .this specification inwhich similar reference cliaracterw-indicate the same parts and w erein:

, Figural is a longitudinal sectional view ofa car with my improvedindicator aplied thereto and shown in side elevation: ig.2 is a faceview of the indicator proper partly broken away to expose the interiorthereof: Fig. 3 isa transverse section there- I of taken on line A A ii'l 2 Serial No. 610,188.

, l is a longitudinal section of a-sprocket-fw eel casing included in myinvention? i'g; is a perspective view of a. chain ghiding bracket andFig. .6 is a perspective view of aicotter included in my improvedmechanism.

To illustrate the adaption qrmjy im roved' street indicator Ihavesho'wii it ie d to a street railway car as'in Fig. '1. p l

.The indicator proper; which will" be presen ly described, ispreferablyfsitliatedat the front of the interior of are near-{the topand in such position thatitsindicating face is in full view of theoccupants arias car.

The indicator proper-"consistsoffapair of sp'oolsbtand c rotatabl'ysupported within a casin, q d by trunnions e restingfliipon brackets fand secured in placebyst rapsg so that when it is desired the-"spoolsmay'be readily removed by displacing tlieflstra s,

'the said spools being so dis osed Within ation to each other thatarlbbon h liearing the names of streets thereon andfsuitably attached tothe spools ma be wotind from one spool to the otherjancljvice verseaccording to the direction in which the car is traveling. The front sideio-fthe'casin is hinged to the main body and has a glass covered openingj therein expdsin'g the pdr- .tion of the ribbon h which bears the nameof thestrefet then being indicated tli'ehinged side i of the casingallowin'g'areadjaiccess to the interior of the latterF-fora pur'osewhich will be apparent from the "followin The means I prefer to employto operate the spools comprise a pair of sprocketwheels 15 one of whichis loosely mounted upon-"each trunnion at one end of the sp oolsfthetrnnr nions being extended forthis pnrpose. An endless sprocket chain lis passed overthe sprocket wheels "and extends 'throughvan aperture minthe bottom off-K the'easin'g d from which it passes thro'tigh 'apipe tothe underside ofythe floor of the car fl and thence to thelrearvestibule from where the indicator is operated as will *be "presentlydescribed. An idler 0 supported adjacent to the aperture fmg guidesthe*ch'ain" there5 throughand tends to holdthedlattei"'firmly inposition upon the sprocket-wheels;

In the operation 'of theyiaaicamrydae of v the sprocket-Wheels only isrigidly sediired to its trunnion, the other remai-niiighloosa so thatwhen the chain'--*l is iopc1ated;*iinly' one of the spools receivesdirect movement therefrom the other having movement 1ml Specification ofLetters Patent. Patented 1911, l Ap lication filed February 23,4911. i

parted thereto by the action of the ribbon as it winds upon the spooldirectly con- I nected to the chain.

To alternately attach the sprocket-wheels to their trunnions a collar 7)is formed integrally with each of the sprockehwheels and hasdiametrically opposite holes 9 therein adapted to register with a hole1* bored through its trunnion while a cotter s is adapted to be'insertedthrough the regise tering holes of the sprocket-wheel it is desired to,rigidly/connect to its trunnion. The legs of the cotter I employ areoutwardly bent at a point 1? adjacent to their ends which latter areturned inwardly into contact with each other thus forming a pointwhichfacilitates the insertion of the cotter, the outwardly bent portionyieldingly re- I sisting withdrawal thereof. By so forming the cotter Iobtain the advantage of the yielding resistance without thedisadvanhtage of flared ends which have heretofore made it difiicult toinsert the cotter.

By the means just described the ribbon is prevented from sagging betweenthe spools and a smooth surface, clearly dis laying eneath the desiredstreet name is exposed the opening j in the front of the casing.

This feature overcomes the defect experiv enced when both spools areoperatively connected to the chain atthe same time when,

before the transverse center of the ribbon passes from one spool to theother the latter spool takes up theribbon more slowly than the formerdelivers the same due to the greater diameter of such spool while, aswill be apparent, when one spool only is connected directly to theoperating means the loose spool will deliver the ribbon at the samespeed as it is taken up by the first spool.

To further maintain the tension of the ribbo'nI provide a deviceconsisting preferably of a bow spring u secured at its center to thecasing, and adjacent to one end of the spools, the ends of the springsextending toward the spools and carrying rollers 'v which bear upon andyieldingly resist the rotation of the spools toward one another.

In the present invention the portion of the ribbon directly beneath theopening 7' and bearing the name of the street then being indicated isalways maintained parallel with the sides of the casing so that thename.

can be plainly seen and this is accomplished by means of a pair ofbrackets '20 secured to the rear of the casing near the opposite ends ofthe spool at a point opposite the opening 7' and extend toward the frontof the casing where they are formed with branching arms an adapted torotatively support a pair of rollers y over which the ribbon passes andisheld thereby in its properposition parallel with the sides of thecasing, whereas without this support the ribbon would slant from'throlig 'h a pipe 2 to a casin one spool to the other as one becamelarger and the other. correspondingly smaller due to the displacement oftheribbon from one to the other.

As before mentioned the indicator is operated from the rear vestibule ofthe car by means of the chain Z.which extends alongthe bottom of the carfrom the front to thefiiear and passes upwardly therefrom 3 secured tothe frame of the car and wlthin which is rotativel'y supporteda'sprocket-wheel 4 over which the chain passes such'sprocket-wheelbieingicohnected with a crank arm 5. outside the casing" by means ofwhich the desired movement is imparted to the spools. The top 15 of thecasing 3 is removablein the axial liiie. of the sprocket-wheel wherebythe latter may be readily removed.

- The casing 3 is gradually reduced in size from the top to the bottomwhere it is formed with an inverted cup-like flange 6 fitting lover thetop of the pipe 2, the chain being uided into the latter by a pair ofidlers carried by the casing adjacent to the top of the pipe.

Situated at intervals along the bottom of the car is a series ofbrackets 9 each carrying a pair of idlers over which the chain passes,the idlers 10' of the intermediate brackets being vertically arrangedwith relation to one another, while the idlers 12 of the bracketsadjacent to the lower ends of the pipes n and. 2 are disposed diag nallyto one another (see Figs. 1 and 5) s that,

the two portions of the chain are held apart as they enter the saidpipes and do not interfere with one another.

' Operation: When the car starts on its run the indicator is inreadiness, that is to say one of the sprocket wheels is fixed to itstrunnion, the other loose and the ribbon set toindicate the firststreet. As the car proceeds the ribbonis moved by the crank arm 5 tosuccessively bring the names of the streets into view beneath theopening until the end of the run is reached- To bring the street namesinto view in reverse order when the car is returning the cotter whichhas secured one. sprocket-wheel upon its trunnion on the outward runisremoved from this sprocket-wheel and appliedto the.

other so that when the crank arm is operated in an opposite directionthe movement of the ribbon is reversed.

.If it is desired aconta-iner 25 may be placed within the casing d andhavela number of cotters therein to behandy in case it is necessary toreplace the cotterthen in use while a suitably connected light 26 mayalso be applied to the casing.

What I claim is as follows:

1. In a car the combination-with a street indicator comprising a casing,a pair of spools within the and having trunnions, a ribbon Wound uponthe spools, sprocket-Wheels normally loosely mounted upon the saidtrunnions and means for" alternately connecting each spr( )cket-Wl1eelto 1tS t111I1I11()l1, of on, operating device for the indlcatorCOII'lPl'lSlIlg' a casing, a hand operated sprocket-wheel supportedwithin the casing and an endless chain connecting the hand operatedsprocket-Wheel mentioned sprocketqvheels.

2. In a car the comb nation with a street indicator at the front of thecar and comprising a casing a pair of spools Within the casing, andhaving trunnions, a ribbon wound upon the spools, spr0cket-'\vl1eelsnormally loosely mounted upon the said trunnions, a cotter, adapted toalternately connect each sprocket-Wheel to its trunnion and a hollowupright communicating with the interior of the casing and extendingtherefrom to the underside of the cer,-0f an with the first-' ingthehand operated sprocketavheel with the first mentionedsprocket-wheels, such chain passing through the hollow uprights andbeing supported by the said brackets.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM DANIED SEALE.

Witnesses:

ALEX. CURRIE, STANLEY C. KING.

